Analysis: SVoDs set for $8.5bn sports rights spend
February 20, 2023
Subscription OTT services’ spend on sports rights globally will reach $8.5 billion (€7.9bn) in 2023, a 64 per cent increase compared to 2022, according to a report from Ampere Analysis analysing the role of sports in the streaming wars.
The research also predicts that the share of spend on sports rights by streaming platforms will increase in 2023 to reach 21 per cent of global sports rights investment, up from 13 per cent in 2022.
Ampere’s research uses the media analyst’s latest suite of data products: Sports – Media Rights, which tracks data on sports TV rights in the largest markets around the world, and Sports – Consumer, a regular series of consumer interviews covering sports fans in 12 countries around the world.
Streamers help media rights owners achieve revenue growth
Subscription OTT services’ spend on sports rights has lagged compared to investment in original TV and film. In 2022, 28 per cent of original content spending was from streaming platforms such as Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video and Apple TV+. However, as streaming technology has improved, and as fans increasingly expect to be able to stream their favourite sports, the sports streaming model finally took off. At the same time, the challenging economic outlook for traditional sports broadcasters – such as pay TV channels, ad-funded commercial channels and public service broadcasters – incentivises rights owners to appeal to streaming platforms in order to achieve media rights growth.
The role of sports in the Streaming Wars
Leading the way for streaming platforms’ growing investment in sports rights, particularly in Europe, is DAZN. The global OTT sports streaming service accounted for more than half (54 per cent) of all subscription OTT services’ spend on sports rights in 2022.
However, recent years have seen an acceleration in sports rights spend by general entertainment services – such as Peacock and Viaplay – as service providers look to differentiate from peers in an increasingly crowded market. General entertainment services accounted for six of the top 10 subscription OTT services by global spend on sports rights in 2022.
The exclusive NFL deal with Amazon that kicked off in September 2022 was arguably the turning point for sports on general entertainment OTT platforms. It represented the largest single deal signed to-date by any sports streaming service, and has since been surpassed only by YouTube – also with the NFL.
“The transition to streaming will take longer for sports than for other genres,” advises Jack Genovese, Research Manager at Ampere Analysis. “This is in part because of the nature of sports rights deals, which typically span multiple years. It is also due to the sheer value of sports rights, and the sensitivities characterising the distribution and consumption of sport. The need for high quality, low latency feeds will continue to favour risk-averse behaviour among broadcasters and rights owners alike. However, streaming will offer opportunities for sports to experiment with content, distribution and monetisation, which will revolutionise the way in which sports rights are sold and bought in the future.”